Passion with Gradualism

Asked the reason for his success, Ivan Pavlov, on his deathbed, replied, “Passion with gradualism.” Living as we do in an age of instant gratification, this is a rare and priceless virtue which we all must cultivate. My Father modeled this the best of anyone I have personally known. He was a visionary and dreamed some impossible dreams, at least they seemed so to many. But we watched and often helped, as one by one his dreams materialized. Little matter that it took twenty years of slow, hard, manual labor to complete the swimming pool at the camp he built, he had a dream which he persistently, passionately, gradually pursued, till finally it was complete. Incidentally, we swam in it from the beginning — each year it just got better.

If it is a worthy dream and you want it badly enough to pay the price and passionately persist, it will almost surely come true. PASSION WITH GRADUALISM.

2 Replies to “Passion with Gradualism”

  1. Thanks for the great explanation of this. I tend to want to get it done now or not at all but can see the merit of passion with gradualism.

  2. The “gradualism” part of this Geigerism is sometimes hard for those of us with eager beaver personalities. But when Pastor Geiger and his fellow visionaries established Redeemer Bible Church twenty years ago, I got to watch how he mixes “gradualism” in with his “passion.” There were many meetings where Pastor Geiger would table projects while we waited to see how God would provide. Sometimes God removed the problem altogether; sometimes He provided in ways we could not have anticipated. Had those of us with a “get it done NOW” mentality had our way, it would have resulted in a tremendous waste of time, money, and effort.

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